Sir
Hugh MyddeltonHugh Myddelton (or Middleton), 1st
BaronetBaronet (1560 – 10 December
1631) was a Welsh clothmaker, entrepreneur, mine-owner, goldsmith,
banker and self-taught engineer. The spelling of his name is
inconsistently reproduced, but Myddelton appears to be the earliest,
and most consistently used in place names associated with him.
The sixth son of Richard Myddelton, governor of
DenbighDenbigh Castle in
WalesWales and MP for
DenbighDenbigh Boroughs, he travelled to seek his fortune in
London and after being apprenticed to a goldsmith became so successful
in that trade that he was appointed Royal Jeweller by King James I. In
the meantime, he became an alderman and then recorder of Denbigh, and
in 1603 succeeded his father as MP for
DenbighDenbigh Boroughs, which he
remained until 1628. He also became a very wealthy merchant and
clothmaker.

The New Gauge House (1856) which regulates the abstraction of water
from the
River LeaRiver Lea into the start of the New River in the
foreground.[1]

Myddelton is, however, best remembered as the driving force behind the
construction of the New River, an ambitious engineering project to
bring clean water from the River Lea, near Ware, in
HertfordshireHertfordshire to
New River Head, London. After the initial project encountered
financial difficulties, Myddelton helped fund the project through to
completion, obtaining the assistance of King James I. The New River
was constructed between 1608 and 1613 (being officially opened on 29
September that year), and was originally some 38 miles (60 km)
long. It was not initially a financial success, and cost Myddelton
substantial sums, although in 1612 he was successful in securing
monetary assistance from King James I.
Mining activities[edit]
In 1617, Myddelton obtained large profits from lead and silver mines
at Bronfloydd,
CwmerfynCwmerfyn and
CwmsymlogCwmsymlog in Cardiganshire, Wales. Working
those mines involved building aqueducts to serve the stamp mills
needed to crush the ore. Following engineering works at
BradingBrading on the
Isle of Wight, he was created a baronet in 1622.
He died in December 1631, and was buried in the church of St. Matthew
Friday Street, London. He had a family of ten sons and six daughters.
One of Sir Hugh's brothers was Sir Thomas Myddelton (c. 1550–1631),
Lord Mayor of London, and another was William Middelton (c.
1556–1621), poet and seaman, who died at Antwerp on 27 March 1621.
Memorials[edit]

Statue of Sir
Hugh MyddeltonHugh Myddelton by John Thomas, on Islington Green
previously known as Paradise Row near the terminus of the New River.
Unveiled 1862 by William Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer
and soon to become Prime Minister.

There is a statue of Myddelton on Islington Green. He has a blue
plaque on the site of his former residence at the end of Cunard
Crescent in Enfield.
ClerkenwellClerkenwell streets, not far from the Round Pond,
the original southern end of the New River, and locations and
institutions (some closed) named after him include Myddelton Square
and Myddelton Passage;
Hugh MyddeltonHugh Myddelton Primary School in Myddelton
Street; the Myddelton Wing of the LSE Rosebery Hall of Residence, also
on Myddelton Street;
Hugh MyddeltonHugh Myddelton Secondary school (which closed in
the mid 1960s in Sans Walk, Islington); and Myddelton House on
Pentonville Road, central office of Citizens Advice. Myddelton Avenue,
parallel to Brownswood Road and the site of one of the New River
Reservoirs, also takes its name from him. At the northern end of the
New River, Myddleton Road in Ware is situated close to the source of
the river. Myddelton Road in
Bowes ParkBowes Park crosses the New River at a
point where it goes underground between there and the
HornseyHornsey water
treatment works, where there is another Myddelton Road off Hornsey
High Street. Bounded by the former course along the valley of Turkey
Brook, Myddelton House at
Bulls Cross, EnfieldBulls Cross, Enfield (now the headquarters
of the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority) was also named in his
honour; it was built by Henry Carrington Bowles (formerly a print and
map maker of St Paul's Churchyard) whose wife, Anne Garnault, was a
member of a
HuguenotHuguenot family with a controlling interest in the New
River Company. On an island in the New River at
Great AmwellGreat Amwell a stone
memorial is dedicated to Myddelton. There is a Myddleton Arms on New
North Road in Canonbury, curiously with that spelling.[2]
References[edit]

Preceded by
John Panton
Member of Parliament for
DenbighDenbigh Boroughs
1604–1629
Succeeded by
Parliament suspended until 1640

Baronetage of England

Preceded by
New creation
Middleton
BaronetBaronet of Ruthyn
Succeeded by
William Middleton

v
t
e

Thames Water

History

John Backhouse
Joseph Bazalgette
Edmund Colthurst
Great Stink
London sewerage system
London water supply
Metropolitan Board of Works
Metropolitan Water Board
Hugh Myddelton
William Chadwell Mylne
New River Company
New River
John Snow (physician)
1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak
William Webster